Pirelli engineers moving ahead with Formula One tire refinements

Jan. 1, 2020
Spain's Pedro de la Rosa has been continuing Pirelli?s Formula One tire testing program on his home track, the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
Spain's Pedro de la Rosa has been continuing Pirelli’s Formula One tire testing program on his home track, the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

The two-day test marked de la Rosa’s second appearance as a Pirelli test driver following his debut in the role at Valencia.

The 39-year-old tried out Pirelli’s intermediate and wet tires in Valencia, but for the Barcelona test he concentrated on the company’s medium and hard compound slick tires for the first time, refining a design package that had already been formulated from previous passes.

“De la Rosa’s work included validating the conclusions drawn from past tests in Mugello and Jerez as well as looking at different ways to make the medium and hard tires even more effective,” says motorsports director Paul Hembery. “By the end of the two days, Pirelli was close to defining the rubber that will be taken to Abu Dhabi for the Formula One teams to try out next month.”

In total de la Rosa completed two days and 262 laps of running, the equivalent of about 1,218 kilometers. Pirelli carried out a number of endurance runs in Barcelona, amounting to some 35 laps at a time, in order to verify the new tire’s consistent performance and reliability in the long term, Hembery says.

Conditions were unusually cold for Barcelona at this time of the year, with temperatures of 45 degrees Fahrenheit in the morning. The weather warmed up to 70 degrees during the afternoon, allowing Pirelli’s engineers to see how the tires operated within a wide window of track conditions.

“Once again, Pedro has shown what a valuable asset he is to us through his hard work and detailed feedback,” says Hembery. “He’s carrying out a crucial role and the information that he has provided to us has helped us to further define the tires that we will take to Abu Dhabi.”

“It’s been an excellent couple of days. I’ve been very impressed because I have to say that the tires were at an even higher level than I imagined,” de la Rosa observes.

“If you look at what Pirelli has done, it’s hard to believe that all this work has been carried out in such a short space of time,” he notes.

“These Pirelli tires have their own, quite different, characteristics (when compared to) the current supplier,” de la Rosa contends, adding that “the drivers will appreciate next year, and I’m confident that they will form a very competitive package. Pirelli’s arrival is great news for Formula One.”

Circuit de Catalunya, the traditional home of the Spanish Grand Prix, contains long straights and varying corners, making it the ideal place to test a wide range of parameters over a distance, according to Hembery. At the same time, Pirelli continued the development of its GP2 tires with Ben Hanley once again taking the wheel of the new GP2 single- seater.

Pirelli's next Formula One tests will take place at France’s Le Castellet circuit in early November, where de la Rosa will concentrate on further development of the soft and super-soft tires – two of the four compounds, along with the hard and the medium, that will be offered to all of the Formula One teams next year.

For more information, visit www.us.pirelli.com.

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